Steven Bebb, a former Bradley County Criminal Court judge, who later served as 10th Judicial district attorney, died April 29 at 82. A graduate of Tennessee Military Institute and Middle Tennessee State University, Bebb joined the Peace Corps and lived in West Cameroon, Africa, before returning to Knoxville to teach and enter law school. He received his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1974. After starting his law career with Hodges, Doughty & Carson, Bebb later joined the 10th Judicial District Attorney's office. In 1982, he was elected criminal court judge and served in that capacity until 2005. After retiring from the bench, he was elected district attorney for the 10th district and served there until fully retiring in 2014. Per Bebb’s wishes, no funeral service will be held.

The long-awaited U.S. News & World Report “Best Law School” rankings are out today, featuring a revised methodology that increases the weight of employment outcomes and bar passage rates and reduces the weight of LSAT scores and undergraduate grade-point averages, Reuters reports. The news source describes the result as ”an unprecedented number of dramatic shifts.” Some schools saw shifts of 20 or more places. See the full list of rankings from Above the Law.

CLAY, Circuit Judge. Plaintiff DayCab Company, Inc. appeals the district court’s entry of summary judgment for Defendants Prairie Technology, LLC, Big Truck Parts, LLC, and William and Wanda Osman in Plaintiff’s case alleging trade dress infringement under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a), and under the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-18-104. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM IN PART and REVERSE IN PART the district court’s grant of summary judgment and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

A Sevier County jury convicted Defendant, Gabriel Enrique Turcios, of first-degree premeditated murder. At sentencing, the jury found that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse beyond that necessary to produce death, and sentenced him to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. On appeal, he claims the evidence is insufficient to support the application of the aggravating circumstance for the sentence. After a thorough review of the record and the parties’ briefs, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Anthony D. Martin, Petitioner, was convicted of rape of a child and sentenced to 40 years in incarceration. His conviction and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal. State v. Anthony Martin, Alias, No. E2018-01066-CCA-R3-CD, 2019 WL 2714379, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App. June 28, 2019), perm. app. denied (Tenn. Oct. 11, 2019). Petitioner sought post-conviction relief based on several alleged instances of ineffective assistance of counsel. The post-conviction court denied relief and dismissed the petition after a hearing. This appeal followed. After a review, we affirm the denial of post-conviction relief.

Mother appeals the termination of her parental rights on five grounds: (1) abandonment by failure to visit the children; (2) abandonment by failure to financially support the children; (3) substantial noncompliance with the permanency plans; (4) persistence of conditions; and (5) failure to manifest an ability and willingness to care for the children. Discerning no reversible error, we affirm.

This appeal arises from the dismissal of a petition for common law writ of certiorari in which the petitioner, an inmate in the custody of the Tennessee Department of Correction (“TDOC”), appeals a disciplinary conviction for “unauthorized financial transactions activity” by the Disciplinary Board at the Turney Center Industrial Complex. The respondents, the State of Tennessee and several governmental officials, filed a joint motion to dismiss the petition on the grounds that the petition was not properly verified as required by Tennessee Code Annotated § 27-8-104 and the petitioner failed to pay the mandatory initial filing fee pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated § 41-21-807. The chancery court granted the motion and dismissed the petition with prejudice on the grounds “the statutory requirements of T.C.A. § 27-8-104 and § 41-21-807 are mandatory and have not been met in this case, and failure to comply results in a defective filing by the Petitioner[.]” This appeal followed. We reverse the decision to dismiss based on the filing fee requirements under Tennessee Code Annotated § 41-21-807. Nevertheless, we affirm the dismissal of the petition with prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction based on the petitioner’s failure to file a petition that complied with the verification requirements under Tennessee Code Annotated § 27-8-104 within 60 days of the entry of the judgment of which the petitioner seeks review.

This appeal concerns the approval of a site plan. William Foehring, Janice Foehring, William Best, Mary Beth Best, Ron Terrill, and Sandra Terrill (“Petitioners”) filed a petition for common law writ of certiorari against the Monteagle Regional Planning Commission (“the Commission”) and RBT Enterprises, LLC (“RBT”)1 (collectively, “Respondents”) in the Chancery Court for Marion County (“the Trial Court”). Petitioners alleged that the Commission acted illegally, arbitrarily, and capriciously in approving the site plan at issue because the underlying zoning for one of the parcels is invalid. The Trial Court ruled in favor of Respondents. Petitioners appeal. In a parallel declaratory judgment action case arising out of the same facts, we determined that the underlying zoning is valid, which is dispositive of this appeal. We affirm the Trial Court.

Among the sessions being offered at the TBA’s Annual Convention June 14-17 in Knoxville is the Bench Bar Program, which brings together lawyers and judges. This year’s program will focus on the law and sports with sessions on leadership, the legal history of women’s basketball in the state and how new “name, image and likeness” rules are benefiting athletes. Speakers include Joan Cronan, University of Tennessee athletic director emeritus; Bill Haltom and Amanda Swanson, authors of "Full Court Press: How Pat Summitt, a High School Basketball Player, and a Legal Team Changed the Game"; and Knoxville lawyer E. Michael Brezina with Brezina Law PLLC. Learn more about convention programming and don’t forgot to register for the event.

This is an appeal arising from allegations of fraud and breach of contract in a dispute surrounding a stock transfer agreement that, among other things, provided for the transfer of controlling interest in a law firm from attorney Robert Hill to attorney Ricky Boren. Whereas many claims were resolved at summary judgment, others were tried before a jury and resolved in the Plaintiffs’ favor. The parties present a plethora of issues for our consideration, and for the reasons stated herein, we affirm the judgment of the trial court and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion.